Water data hub is go!

David Zetland explains all:I've been looking for a centralized source of water data for over a year, a place where I could go to find data on any kind of water question.

Although that quest led me to IBNET -- a fantastic resource on water utility data in many countries -- I was unable to find a good centralized index of water data.

Even more depressing, I was unable to get any interest or support out of organizations (USGS, World Bank, OECD, et al.) whose missions might imply support for just such an idea.

So, I decided to set up my own water data hub (WDH) -- a central location that links to water data, no matter where it is, who owns it, or what dimension of water it describes.

Last November, I asked for help on this project, and Ian Wren (from San Francisco) joined me.

It's thanks to Ian's hard work (weekends and evenings!) that I can now invite you to visit waterdatahub.org!

So, please go there and add data sources. The WDH, like any network, gains value with the number of links.

Oh, and don't forget that anyone can add a link to the hub. You only need a WDH account (free and easy to set up). So, go ahead and add your favorite data source from the World Bank, Exxon-Mobile, the Nature Conservancy, et al.

Note by my wording that the WDH does not host, own or control data. It's basically an index of data controlled by other organizations.

The big goal now is to make a census of data, so that we know what exists, what's missing and what overlaps.

Future developments:

WDH 1.1: You can add records for data that exist but are not available to the public. This will make it easier to contact data owners to ask for access and -- hopefully -- to pressure them to release it to the public.

WDH 1.2: Anyone can comment on the quality of data sources held elsewhere; this will help everyone understand the uses and limitations of data -- information that is not necessarily available from data owners.

WDH 2.0 (2013): We will start the very difficult process of "normalizing" data from many sources (using translation tables) to make it possible to assemble a data table from 2+ sources linked to the WDH.

Note that the WDH will make it easier for anyone who analyzes data to do their job; analysis is too difficult to automate.

As you might expect, I am running WDH as a stand-alone, academic, non-profit. At the moment, we do not need money as much as your time.